User blog:HumphreyDumphrey/A Short List of Conceivable Universes
The Multiverse is exciting, and full of possibilities, and mind-bendingly huge, and if ever someone finds a way to prove it is real, that would be incredibly amazing. It is also a contender for the most irrational belief currently held by rational scientists. This is not to say that Multiverse theories are right or wrong. I'mjust saying that if you spend a few minutes actually thinking about the implications, a healthy dose of irrationalilty is required to believe it. Now we're talking specifically about the infinite multiverse here. If you choose to believe in a Multiverse of say, two or three hundred million universes, some with life, some without, and the ones with life having reasonably similar fundamental constants to ours, then there's no great beef with that. But once you start talking about an infinity of universes, in which every conceivable you are required to believe ALL of the following scenarios are real, functioning universes, lying beyond our reach: The indistinguishable Universes... *A universe identical to our won, except for the spin of a single atom; *a universe identical to our own, except for the spin of another single atom; *1078 to 1082 other universes identical to our own, except for the spin of a different single atom *1078 to 1082 other universes identical to our own, except for the spin of two atoms *1078 to 1082 other universes identical to our own, except for the spin of three atoms *--- *1078 to 1082 other universes identical to our own, except for the spin of 1078 to 1082 atoms *(From now on, a collection of all of these universes indistinguishable from each other except at the atomic level shall be known as 'a set of universes') The time-shifted universes... *a set of universes identical to our own, but billions of years younger than ours; *a set of universes identical to our own, but billions of years older than ours; *a set of universes identical to our own, but millions of years younger than ours; *a set of universes identical to our own, but millions of years older than ours; *a set of universes identical to our own, but thousands of years younger than ours; *a set of universes identical to our own, but thousands of years older than ours; *a set of universes identical to our own, but a few minutes younger than ours; *a set of universes identical to our own, but a few minutes older than ours; The Pre-history did something different universes... *A set of universes in which that meteor did not strike Earth, and the dinosaurs eventually evolved into really intelligent chickens; *A set of universes in which another meteor struck Earth not long after homo-sapiens started to evolve, re-setting the whole process in favour of the dolphins; *A set of universes in which a single mutation in early mammals resulted in a very successful species with six legs, whyich later led to primates with 2 legs and 4 arms, which ultimately led to human like species who could mlti-task like nobody's business; *A set of universes in which complex life on Earth never happened; *A set of universes in which complex life on Earth never happened naturally, but Earth was colonised and terra-formed by aliens; The Sliders Universes *a set of universes identical to our own, except for the fates & fortunes of 4 people who have discovered the ability to travel between them; *a set of universes identical to our own, except for the outcome of a significant historical event; *a set of universes identical to our own, except for a single cultural quirk or social norm; *a set of universes identical to our own, except buildings are made of cheese; The ego universes... *A set of universes in which you are incredibly rich and successful; *a set of universes in which you are far more attractive and desirable to whoever it is you want to be desired by; *a set of universes in which you are more intelligent; *a set of universes in which you are more intelligent, more attractive and desirable, and incredibly rich and successful; *a set of universes in which you are more intelligent, more attractive and desirable, and incredibly rich and successful, and suicidal; The fictional universes... *A set of universes in which the plot of Star Wars is historical fact; *A set of universes in which the plot of Star Wars is mostly historical fact, except Luke and Leia engage in an incestuous relationship; *A set of universes in which the plot of Star Wars is historical fact, and the plot of ET is historical fact, and the ET from ET was one of the ET's in the background of the Imperial Senate in Star Wars Episode 3, thus raising the question of how that ET managed to get so badly lost that he ended up on the Earth of that Universe having come from a long time ago in a Galaxy far far away; *A set of universes in which 'The Fast and the Furious' is historical fact; *A set of universes in which 'The Fast and the Furious' won the Oscar for Best Picture; *A set of universes in which 'The Fast and the Furious' won the Oscar for Best Documentary; *A set of universes in which the plot of The Decline of Empire Saga is historical fact. The theologically confusing universes... *A set of universes that are simulations on super computers contained in other universes; *A set of universes that are simulations on super computers contained in other universes, and were designed in a mature state by a Creator; *A set of universes that are simulations on super computers contained in other universes, and were designed by a Creator who determined a set of fundamental constants and then waited to see what happened; *A set of universes that are not simulations on super computers contained in other universes, but were nonetheless brought into existence by a Creator; *A set of universes with interventionist Gods living in a variety of Godly Realms pass judgement on humans and interfere with their lives; *A set of universes in which the Bible is historical fact; *A set of universes in which the Space Opera of Scientology is historical fact; The physically improbably universes... *A set of universes in which some people have learned to fly by flapping their arms and whistling; *A set of universes in which all people have learned to fly by flapping their arms and whistling; *A set of universes in which all people except you have learned to fly by flapping their arms and whistling; *A set of universes in which Earth is slightly smaller, and everyone bounces more; *A set of universes in which Earth is much smaller, and everyone bounces a lot more; *A set of universes in which the average height of human males is 12 feet; The "All's good in our neck of the woods" universes... *A mindboggling multitude of sets of universes in which the Earth looks and behaves exactly as it does in this one, but something is different on another planet, in another solar system, in another galaxy, far, far away. All told, it's a very complex and elaborate way of explaining away God . Category:Blog posts